Dragon Age Franchise Discussion (With Spoilers)

[Mankoi]

So, when this game was first announced, I said I'd be in, though I'd only played Origins. Between then and about a week or two ago, I've rectified that. So! Some observations and thoughts.

I actually wound up replaying a bit of Origins, and found that Morrigan describes Flemeth's grimoire as being black leather with the pattern of a leafless tree on it. A leafless tree would just so happen to be the perfect description for one of the Dailish tattoo options. And that the design has been confirmed to correspond with Mythal. That was very well planned out. It does make me curious about Merrill though, as her tattoos seem to be unique. I imagine it's likely on account of her being a main character, so she gets unique markings to set her apparent. It still makes me wonder if perhaps there are tattoos for the Forgotten Ones as well.

I'm not sure if there's any lore to contract it, there's still a lot of the universe I'm unfamiliar with, but I also highly suspect that the Forgotten Ones and the Old Gods are the same thing.

I understand that the name Dread Wolf may have been applied after these statues were created 41.media.tumblr.com/4136829fd80aeb8619631e7f82bb9035/tumblr_nihk0tAklF1u4w7xro1_1280.png but I'm not sure how anyone could look at one of those and get the word "Dread." Those statues are adorable.

[JaccusRed]

I hadn't picked up on that well done lol. Yes that is one of the key theories. DAI Ddefinately caught me off guard multiple times and I haven't had many coherent theories myself, I am sure however that what the dread wolf did by accident or on purpose was separate the fade and Thedas. The old gods could be the same as the forgotten ones, although the old gods seem to be underground. It would make sense however, Mythal can turn into a dragon so if she were blighted... I'm not sure I go back and forth on everything.

[Mankoi]

I actually have put together a sort of theory, though there's a lot of holes, and most of it, I have no evidence for. Just speculation to put various pieces together.

The thing I am fairly sure on is that the taint predates the first blights. Red lyrium is tainted lyrium, and the first place it's ever found is dwarven ruins that predate the first blight. There's also a story about one of the elvish gods that seems to describe the taint: "One day Andruil grew tired of hunting mortal men and beasts. She began stalking The Forgotten Ones, wicked things that thrive in the abyss. Yet even a god should not linger there, and each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning.

Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn." If the abyss, or void, is actually underground, this would match up with finding tainted lyrium in the Deep Roads as well. I suspect it is, as Fen'Harel was said to seal away the creators in the heavens, and the Forgotten Ones in the abyss. Usually when these types of situations pop up in myth, one is the opposite to the other, so the opposite to the heavens is underground. The creators would have been sealed away in the Golden City. Which I doubt was ever truly golden, just made to look that way from the outside so as to lure someone in to be their agent.

Meanwhile I imagine the Forgotten Ones had a similar idea. Given the Creators and Forgotten Ones were at war, I imagine one of the Forgotten Ones/Old Gods managed to reach out and influence the Tevinter mages into claiming the Golden City for themselves, using them as a proxy to continue the war. The Creators, in turn, tainted the Tevinter mages and returned them to Thedas, making them forget having seen the Creators, and instead giving them a compulsion to seek out and taint the Forgotten Ones. The blight that ensues every time they succeed is just collateral damage.

As for Mythal... I got nothin' on her. Who killed her or why, I have no idea. I imagine that may have been the thing that started the war. Both sides blaming, and hence both sides seeing Fen'Herel as an ally who'd want to avenge her murder, but that's about all I've got there.

For the taint... I'm still not sure what it is, or where it comes from. Judging by the above myth, it seems to have had many of the properties in the past as it does now, so I'm not inclined to believe the Creators made it as a weapon. Weaponized it, perhaps, created it, I don't think. My best guess? It's basically the memories or minds of other people. The original source is the Red Lyrium. Perhaps someone once tried to use blood magic to preserve their essence in lyrium, and created the taint. It comes with that need to find and corrupt the Old God's now because of at least one tainted Creator, whose mind and will is more powerful than the other minds there. But that's just speculation. Complicated even more by the fact that I'm with you on the idea that there wasn't a veil until Fen'Harel put it there. It fits his desire to remove it. In a comic I just read, one of Flemeth's other daughters even mentions a time before the veil. I always got the impression that lyrium functioned via its connection to the Fade.

It could be that, given there's always rather a lot of lyrium in the Fade, the souls of dead mortals turn into lyrium. It's said that the souls of the dead pass into the Fade, but even the spirits don't know what happens next. This would also fit the dwarvish beliefs of people returning to the stone when they die. If that's the case... then I still have no idea what the taint is.

[JaccusRed]

All a bit messy isn't it.